Robert Gunther, Research Brief, MediaPost
December 17, 2008
Ed Keller, CEO of the Keller Fay Group, said approximately 20 percent of word of mouth is stimulated by advertising.  Influencers are three times as likely to talk about ads.  Their studies, based on interviews since 2006 where individuals were asked what they talked about the day before, found 21.6 percent of conversations included some reference to advertising.  Ad-influenced WOM is about 20 percent more likely to include an active recommendation to buy or try the product.

“While people talk about online impressions, there are 3.5 billion brand impressions created every day through word of mouth,” said Keller.

Implications:

• The rise of WOM does not portend “the end of advertising.”
• 20% of WOM is stimulated by Advertising.  Influencers are 3x more likely to talk about ads.
• Ad-influenced WOM is about 20% more likely to include active recommendations to try/buy product.
• About 1/2 of Online WOM is teenagers.  From a marketing standpoint, need to keep that in mind.
• 75% of WOM is face to face; 15% is phone; 3% is texting; 3% email; 1% chat rooms.  About 3.5 billion brand conversations per day.

Click here for the Keller Fay presentation from the Wharton conference.